Lionel, I Think I Love You

I listen to Air America from 10 am until 5 pm daily at work. Since their Air America 2.0 reinvention, they've added a couple of new shows. One of those shows is the Lionel Show. I was not an instant Lionel fan. He has a terrible habit of ridiculing some of his callers and I really don't like hosts that do that. But he's been growing on me as a host.

Today he announced his "Education Manifesto" that he would use if he were the head of the Department of Education.

1. Education is not a right, it's a privilege.

2. One-size-fits-all education is not good. Not every child is meant for college. Determine whether a child should be on the college track or the vocation track and educate them accordingly.

3. Unruly kids are returned to their parents after intense due process. Schools are not babysitters. If a kid brings a gun to school, the parents get to complete his education.

4. Pay kids to attend school just like they will be paid for working as adults. Giving them tangible incentives keeps them interested and gets them to invest more in school.

5. Learning a second language would be mandatory.

6. School would be year-round. Summer vacation was put into place when we were an agrarian society. Kids no longer have to work in the fields.

7. Rudimentary life training would be mandatory. Kids would learn about credit, how to manage a checking account, how to parent, and other life tools.

8. Lessons in manners and elocution would be mandatory.

9. The pay scale for educators would be inverted. Front line teachers would be paid the most and administrators would be paid the least to encourage good teachers to stay in the classroom.

And that, folks, is when I fell in love with Lionel.